4: Chapter 4 Magic Backlash

"What's going on?!" Su Ya steadied herself, the fireball in her hand flaring up again.

Bang! Crack!

The iron door at the rear of the carriage let out a violent groan. That was the connecting door for this carriage, and it lacked the protection of an explosion-proof gate.

Under everyone's terrified gaze, two massive black bull horns, covered in shredded meat, forced their way through the iron door.

Immediately after, a pair of bloodshot eyes as large as copper bells peered through the hole.

It was a Mutant Bull Monster nearly three meters tall.

Its body was covered in hard black scales, its muscles were knotted like rock, and two thick streams of white vapor snorted from its nostrils.

The Mutant Bull Monster grabbed the deformed iron door with both arms and tore it open violently to both sides.

Riiiip!

It tore through the several-centimeter-thick iron plating like it was paper. Heavy footsteps entered the carriage.

A sense of oppression.

A suffocating pressure. This monster's size and strength were on a completely different level compared to the Ghoul from before.

"Ah!!!"

The girls, who had just been fantasizing about slaughtering everything in their path, were instantly brought back to reality when faced with this mountain-like monster.

Screams filled the carriage once again.

The girl with heavy makeup was so scared she collapsed onto her backside, the small splash of water at her fingertips having long since dissipated.

"Don't panic! Attack its eyes!" Su Ya forced herself to stay calm. She thrust both hands forward, and a basketball-sized fireball hissed through the air, smashing toward the Mutant Bull Monster's face.

Boom!

The fireball exploded on the Mutant Bull Monster's face, flames engulfing its head.

A glimmer of hope rose in the girls' eyes, only to be completely shattered in the next second.

The Mutant Bull Monster charged out through the flames.

The B-rank flames had only singed a few hairs on its face; they hadn't even managed to pierce its scales.

The enraged Mutant Bull Monster let out a deafening roar, lowered its head to display its horns, and charged toward the crowd like an out-of-control tank.

Su Ya was the first in its path.

She had no time to dodge, her mind going completely blank.

Just as the Mutant Bull Monster's horns were about to pierce Su Ya's body, a white figure blocked its path.

It was Xia Wanqiu.

At the brink of life and death, this pure and seductive school beauty erupted with an incredible will to survive.

Her eyes were fixed on the charging monster as the wings behind her flared out to their limit.

"Get away!!!"

Xia Wanqiu screamed. The magic within her body was drained in an instant.

Absolute zero descended.

The moisture in the air desublimated instantly.

A visible wave of ice-blue cold erupted from Xia Wanqiu's hands, meeting the Mutant Bull Monster head-on.

Cr-crack...

The ear-grating sound of freezing echoed.

The Mutant Bull Monster's charge became slower and slower.

From the floor beneath its feet to the scales on its legs, and all the way up its thick body, it was entirely covered in thick, solid ice.

When its horns were only a centimeter away from the tip of Xia Wanqiu's nose, it stopped moving completely.

A massive three-meter-tall ice sculpture stood in the center of the carriage.

A-rank talent, Frost Control—the cross-level freezing was a success.

The carriage fell into a deathly silence.

Su Ya sat paralyzed on the floor, gasping for breath as she looked at the massive ice sculpture before her, lingering fear in her heart.

"We... we did it..." one girl said with a trembling voice.

The girls looked at Xia Wanqiu with eyes full of awe; this was the power of an A-rank ability!

If not for her, Su Ya would be dead, and none of them would have escaped the ensuing slaughter.

"Wan Qiu, you're amazing!" several girls swarmed around her.

However, Xia Wanqiu did not respond.

She stood in place, maintaining her thrusting posture, her body beginning to tremble violently.

Pfft!

Xia Wanqiu suddenly opened her mouth and spat out a large mouthful of blood. The bright red blood splattered onto the crystalline ice, a shocking sight.

"Wan Qiu!" Su Ya cried out, rushing forward to support her.

The moment she touched her, Su Ya pulled her hand back as if burned.

Xia Wanqiu's body temperature was terrifyingly high, as if an active volcano were erupting inside her. Her originally fair skin had turned an eerie flush red.

"So hot... so hungry..."

Xia Wanqiu collapsed limply to the floor.

She painfully clawed at her already tattered clothes, exposing large patches of snowy-white skin to the air, yet she seemed completely unaware of it.

Her eyes lost focus, her pupils turning entirely into an intoxicating peach-blossom pink.

The demon tail behind her lashed the floor frantically, as if craving something.

"Wan Qiu, what's wrong? Don't scare me!" Su Ya panicked. She wanted to use something cold to cool Xia Wanqiu down, but found herself completely powerless.

Just then, a cold mechanical voice rang out in everyone's minds, devoid of any emotion.

[Carriage-wide broadcast.]

[Warning: Player Xia Wanqiu (A-rank Succubus) has forcibly used her ability beyond her level. Her magic power has been overdrawn to zero.]

[Succubus Core Mechanism triggered.]

[Status: Extreme Hunger.]

[Judgment: Vitality backlash has begun. The player's internal organs are rapidly failing under high heat.]

[Estimated time until death: 3 minutes.]

The broadcast's voice was flat, yet it felt like a heavy hammer smashing into the hearts of every girl who had just been feeling self-satisfied.

Their blind optimism was instantly shattered.

Power came with a price; the higher the talent, the more fatal the backlash.

"How can this be... System, how do we save her! Is there any medicine!" Su Ya shouted into the air, losing her usual composure.

[The only solution is announced:]

[Succubus racial specificity: Magic cannot recover on its own.]

[Must receive a Life Energy Infusion from the only designated legal spouse in this carriage—the Train Master.]

[If the infusion is interrupted, the backlash will continue.]

The mechanical voice faded.

The carriage fell into a deathly silence even more oppressive than when they encountered the monster.

Everyone's gaze shifted stiffly from Xia Wanqiu, who was writhing in pain on the floor, slowly toward Lin Feng, who had been standing in the corner watching coldly the entire time.

The dictator they had just despised and tried to overthrow.

Lin Feng had his hands in his pockets, his expression terrifyingly calm.

He was like a patient hunter, watching his prey walk step by step into the trap he had long anticipated.

"Lin Feng..." Su Ya's voice was so dry it hurt. She finally understood the meaning behind Lin Feng's cold sneer earlier.

In this carriage, the women's magic was merely brilliant fireworks, while Lin Feng was the only god who controlled the ignition and the extinguishing.

"Save... save me..."

Xia Wanqiu on the floor had completely lost her reason. Her pink eyes were like two burning fires of desire, locked firmly onto Lin Feng.

It was the instinctive craving of a Succubus for high-concentration life energy.

Like a dying fish, she dragged her burning body, crawling bit by bit across the cold floor toward Lin Feng.

Her hands left bloody streaks on the metal floor, and her demon tail reached forward unconsciously, trying to touch the man who could let her live.

"Lin Feng... I don't want to die..."

Xia Wanqiu crawled to Lin Feng's feet. This usually proud and pure school beauty now cast aside all dignity and tightly hugged Lin Feng's leg.

She looked up with a face that was flushed, covered in tears, and filled with despair and longing.

She opened her mouth and let out a whimpering sound like a begging kitten.

The countdown to death: two minutes and ten seconds remaining.

Lin Feng lowered his head, looking down at the school beauty at his feet.

A system notification rang out privately in his mind:

[Detected that the A-rank Succubus is in a near-death state of seeking.]

[Do you wish to activate the Train Master privilege to perform a Deep-Link Infusion?]

[Hint: For the first link, you can randomly extract one talent skill from the other party.]

Lin Feng did not answer immediately.

He looked at the trembling girls in the carriage, seeing the fear and awe in their eyes that had reignited even deeper than before.